Pages tagged "witness slips"

There are several bills under consideration in the IL General Assembly right now that would protect children's data in and out of school, including the much needed student data protection bill RYH Action has been working on, HB3606/SB2089.

Big week in Springfield coming up: Friday is the deadline for bills to get out of committee in the House and Senate. On Tuesday the 10th there are two education committee hearings in the House and one in the Senate. There’s a lot of education legislation on the docket, and this is a crucial time to register your opposition and support by filing witness slips.

A bill must first pass a substantive committee (e.g. Education, Transportation, Appropriations) in order to get a vote in the full IL House or IL Senate. When a bill is scheduled for a committee hearing and vote, the public can weigh in on the bill by submitting a witness slip online. The volume of witness slips signifies the level of public support or opposition to bills to legislators who serve on the committee hearing the bill.

Here's how to fill out a witness slip:

Name, Address, City, State, Zip: Complete (no dots or abbreviations)

Firm/Business: "none" or "self."

Title: "self"

Email and phone: Complete these lines

Representation: "self"

Position: Select"PROPONENT" to support the bill or "OPPONENT" to oppose the bill

Once you get the hang out of it, this is a quick and easy additional way to support or oppose a bill besides calling, writing and visiting your legislator. You can also create an account on my.ilga.gov site to make filling out and tracking your witness slips even faster.

The IL General Assembly is back in session this week, and there's an important bill on the agenda in the Senate Education Committee this Tuesday, Jan. 30th for supporters of public schools and the common good.

Fill out a witness slip as a PROPONENT for HB3567, a bill that prohibits charter schools from opening in financially distressed school districts in IL. There is a hearing for this bill Tuesday, 3/28 at 2pm in the Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Committee.

There is a hearing this Wednesday, March 29, in the IL House for HB3786, the LSC Empowerment Bill. Take 2 minutes to fill out a witness slip and share with your contacts.

Even if you filled out a witness slip for this bill recently, you should do so again. While this bill was on the hearing schedule previously, it did not come up for a vote and therefore the witness slip process needs to start over again.